Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Playing a majority of their games against non-conference opponents, including the Kentucky Wildcats, the EKU Colonels’ baseball season got off to a tough start with sixteen consecutive losses. 

Since then, however, the team broke even at .500 going into Tuesday’s game against the highly-ranked Vanderbilt Commodores. 

The Colonels (4-21; 3-3 ASUN)  – whom current George Rogers Clark High School outfielder Kamden McAlpin will suit up for next season – won the series finale of a three-game set against the University of North Alabama Lions (7-14; 4-2 ASUN) on Sunday, March 23, courtesy of a walk-off home run by sophomore and Christian County native Elijah Underhill. 

One day earlier, in a 5-1 defeat to North Alabama on Saturday, March 23, Underhill drove in the team’s lone run on a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth inning. 

“He’s a really good player. He’s really talented,” said EKU Head Coach Walt Jones, noting the team also looks to utilize Underhill as a pitcher. “I think we can use him offensively. That was a pretty good swing.” 

In Saturday’s ballgame, the Colones looked to flip the outcome of a 7-3 loss to the Lions the day before. 

However, after a pair of defensive miscues in the second inning, the Lions – with runners in scoring position – took advantage. 

Celebrating his birthday, University of North Alabama senior Leighton Jenkins drove in a pair of runs on a two-RBI single to stake the Lions to an early lead. 

Jenkins added another RBI in the fourth inning on a single, scoring sophomore Bryant Loving. 

“We had a plan going into today. I myself and my teammates executed the plan and it turned out good for us,” he said. 

UNA freshman Petey Craska’s RBI double would make it 4-0 in the fifth inning, though Underhill’s single scoring senior Julius Scearce – who had two of the Colonels’ eight hits – narrowed the deficit to three runs. 

However, UNA senior Matthew Delgado – who finished with three hits – would extend the Lions’ lead again in the top of the ninth. 

Afterward, junior Gavin Oswald – who pitched 2.2 innings in relief – shut out the Colonels in the ninth for the victory. 

For EKU, sophomore Bradley Gagen – who pitched 5.1 innings and struck out six batters without allowing a walk – took the loss. 

Junior Nathan Lawson allowed 2 hits and 1 run over 2.3 innings pitched, which included stranding a runner on third base with less than two outs. 

Freshman Tripp Patterson of UNA took the win after allowing zero earned runs over 6.1 innings pitched with three strikeouts. 

As the team looks forward, Coach Jones hopes to see continued growth. 

“The mistakes that we make get magnified…we’re [going to] keep going…we’re going to take it one day at a time,” he said. “There’s a good baseball team in this group…at some point we’re [going to] get there, and we’ll be dangerous when we get there.” 

On Tuesday, March 25, the Colonels fell 10-0 to the 12th-ranked nationally Vanderbilt Commodores (20-5). 

They will attempt to get back to their winning ways beginning with a matchup against the University of Central Arkansas (6-17) in Conway, AR, on Friday, March 28, at 5:00 p.m.